Professor from Belgium and the US Selected for 2019 Blue Planet Prize Updated in September 2019

Asahi Glass Foundation (Tokyo, Japan) announced that this year’s Blue Planet Prize will go to Prof. Eric Lambin of Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and Prof. Jared Diamond of University of California, Los Angeles (USA). Prof. Lambin revealed how changes in global land-use could impact our ecosystem, while Prof. Diamond focused on how environmental problems can affect the survival of nations and civilizations. The award ceremony will be held in Tokyo on December 11 and each winner will receive a trophy and a cash prize of 50 million yen.

According to the foundation, Prof. Lambin revealed the impact of global land-use on ecosystems by using satellite remote sensing technology and his own analytic methodology. His work had greatly urged forest protection in land-use, particularly land-use by public institutions and private companies.

Prof. Diamond is also a historian and an author. Through his trilogy titled 〈Guns, Germs and Steel〉* 〈Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed〉 and 〈The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?〉, he provided deep insight into the roots of modern environmental problems by touching upon theories related to civilization, organization, and society. He emphasized the significance of environmental problems in the history of human civilization. *1998 Pulitzer Prize; Aventis Prize for Best Science Book

The Asahi Glass Foundation established the Blue Planet Prize in 1992, when the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) was held. Since then, individuals or organizations who have made significant contributions in science and technology to solve environmental problems are selected each year. 2019 marks the 28th year since the prize began.